I am writing this post on my last day in Vietnam. We left the island of Phu Quoc today via a short flight yesterday. Now for a bit of time in Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City) before our flights back home this  evening.

Phu Quoc is a place we wanted to visit before, as many places, it became over-developed. They say it’s what Phuket would of been if not had not been over-developed. Phu Quoc is an island that is home to a fair number of resorts but they are mostly of the quante, family owned variety. It has a population of about 80,000. The island produces the world’s best fish sauce and is also known for it’s black pepper. There are several fishing villages so there is seafood everywhere!

One thing that I had noticed myself doing with my photography this trip, I was abusing the “rule of thirds”. I had shot way too many boat pictures and after doing some reviews of the images, I noticed the pattern. Bottom right third seemed to be my preference for some reason. Maybe because most of the boats were heading from right to left? I dunno. What I do know is that it was getting boring. However, I do like this above image. The lighting was incredible that evening.

I know that this image was posted earlier on Facebook but I’m proud of it and wanted to make sure others got a chance to see it whom are not a Facebook contact of mine. Plus, this morning I finally have some time to write an blog post of the happenings in Vietnam. 

So, today we are on the island of Phu Quoc. We had arrived yesterday in the afternoon after a one hour flight from Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City).

First let me tell you about the Mekong Delta. It’s a HUGE  area approximately 39,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi). It’s where the Mekong empties into the South China Sea. There are many islands in which the Vietnamese carved water ways into the muddy islands to have easy boat access. It’s really amazing to see all the waterways. They spider all over!

We had did a two day and one night home stay tour of the region. Transportation included buses, motor boats, sampan boats(small row boats), and even some cycling on a big Vietnamese cruiser bike. The participants only included my wife, Trish, and a Austrian girl, named Romana. We had piggy-backed occasionally on a larger tour but essentially, it was just us three and our guide, Wang, who spoke great English. The small group made the tour extra special.

The home stay was great too. The four of us; Trish, Romana, Wang, and myself, stayed one night with a local family on Hoa Ninh island. The island’s population is about 40,000 but it didn’t seem that populated. The island is filled with water routes that are accessed by motor or sometimes, sampan only. The family at the home stay also taught us how to cook a Vietnamese dinner which we ate. It was DEE-LISH! I am sure when we arrived back home that we will be making home made spring rolls and noodle dishes for the next three months.

During the second day, we did our guided tour via boat to access different parts of the island to visit a factories. They included rice paper, fish sauce, sea salt, and two coconut candy factories. It was amazing to see everything hand made. No machines or robots and only whole ingredients, no additives or preservatives. A few images below are samples of what we saw.

Anyway, I wish that I had time to type on but I must go now. Hope to catch up with you soon with images from Phu Quoc.

Breaking wave.

An update of sorts here. Over the last several days, we have travelled from Hanoi to Huey to Hoi An and now Nha Trang. I had actually enjoyed Hanoi for it’s craziness and vibe. Huey was ok. Great to see the Citadel but no atmosphere. Hoi An was cool with the old architecture and predictable flooding but was too afraid to bring out the dSLR in the heavy rains. I did get some shots from protection of a Cafe though. Last night, after a 9 1/2 hr. train ride, we arrived in Nha Trang at 11pm.

Nha Trang is resort town on a large sandy beach.  However, it’s low season so it’s not terribly busy. The weather was good until the night we arrived. Apparently, we bring the rains with us where ever we go. Nha Trang, it’s more expensive than other parts of Vietnam yet  still affordable by Western Standards.

I thank  Nha Trang for one thing. It’s where I got a capture that deserves to be printed and mounted on a wall in my home. Yup. It’s the image above. Sometimes, you look and look and look but nothing strikes you. This one was different. I brought my camera to the beach in case that I had regretted NOT to bring it. For that reason,  I have been used to carrying my dSLR every where I go. The possibility of regret haunts me if I don’t take it. Anyways, brought the “gun” and got me a keeper. I have a few ideas to tweak it in Photoshop when at home. When it’s 100%, I’ll send it off to Artistic Canvas Photo to be printed up on a big ol’ canvas.

This image does make me proud. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. Trust me, it’s rare that I am satisfied with my images… at least worthwhile for print.